Advice For Attorneys On The Immigration Consequences of State and Federal Cases
Fees
Every case is a little different in terms of complexity; two clients charged with identical crimes might have drastically different consequences based on their current status or immigration history. That having been said, the following is intended to provide an idea of roughly how much we charge:
- Basic citizenship check (i.e. confirming whether you need to take into account potential immigration consequences): $150-$250
- One crime charged, no criminal history: $450-$750
- Multiple crimes charged, or significant criminal history (which also have to be analyzed): $450-$950
1) We Act As Your Advisors, Not Your Client's Attorney
When we provide advice on a case, we act as advisor to the attorney and do not create a direct attorney client relationship with your client. Everything we do falls within your attorney client privilege and confidentiality.
For this reason, we will usually not speak with your client directly unless you are present/on the telephone with us.
2) Our Primary Duty Is To You, The Attorney
When you engage our services, we provide assistance to you in complying with your obligations.
As such, you can of course always feel free to share the advice we provide with your client, however, please be aware that in so doing you are adopting it as your own; we do not accept liability directly to your client.
3) Identifying Information of your Client Is Almost Never Required
If possible, we do not obtain personally identifying information (name, SSN's etc.) because they are generally not relevant to the immigration consequences. Instead, we advise on a particular fact pattern.
By keeping the client identity out of the equation, we do not need to run a detailed conflict check, which keeps us more easily accessible and costs low.
As such, whenever we may communicate about a client, we try and avoid transmitting names etc. unless it is necessary. To be clear, it's not a problem if names or other identifying information is disclosed, we just have to take additional steps which slows things down a little.
4) Our Bill Is To You, The Attorney and Not To Your Client
In many cases, the attorneys we work with are able to pass the fee for our services along to their client as an expense. For this reason, it is important to note that our invoice is to the attorney for a professional service, and not the lay client as their attorney. We do not maintain an IOLA account and therefore cannot hold client money in escrow.
We will always provide any and all documentation which enables you to seek reimbursement from your client, however, the payment of our invoice is not contingent upon the client paying you, should you choose to pass the cost along.